Judge Unseals Report That Skakel Jury Never Got To See

VERNON — Nearly 10 years before Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel went to trial for the 1975 murder of Greenwich teen Martha Moxley, police and prosecutors asked a forensic psychiatrist to examine another suspect in the case, Skakel's tutor Kenneth Littleton.

Littleton agreed to the exam, hoping to "get the monkey off his back once and for all," Dr. Kathy A. Morall told Greenwich Police Department detectives in a Jan. 21, 1993, letter.

But Morall's exam did hardly that.

"The examination of behavior following the crime strongly points to Mr. Littleton," Morall wrote in a 27-page report recently unsealed by Superior Court Judge Thomas Bishop but never disclosed to the jury that convicted Skakel of murder in 2002. "Not only does he engage in violence, much of it is directed towards women. His strange and bizarre behavior is quickly evident during the summer of 1976. … His preoccupation with the crime and his 'theories' of how it occurred would typically suggest involvement or guilt."

Revelations about Morall's report surfaced Friday on what was supposed to be the last day of Skakel's hearing in his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in which he is seeking a new trial on grounds that his trial lawyer, Mickey Sherman, did a poor job defending him.

Bishop unsealed the report, allowing defense lawyers to read it for the first time. On Tuesday, they amended Skakel's latest petition to include claims that Sherman should have tried to make more of an effort to get the report to use as potential evidence in his failed to attempt to winSkakel's acquittal.

Skakel, 52, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, the widow of former U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life for Moxley's murder. Moxley was beaten to death in Greenwich's wealthy Belle Haven neighborhood. She and Skakel, both 15 at the time, were neighbors.

In Skakel's latest bid for freedom, he is claiming ineffective assistance of Sherman and is seeking a new trial. If Bishop rules in Skakel's favor, prosecutors would have to decide whether they want to try the case again. Testimony in the two-week hearing ended Tuesday. It could be weeks and possibly months before Bishop makes his ruling.

On Tuesday, Skakel lawyer Hubert J. Santos called Michael Fitzpatrick back to the witness stand to ask him about Morall's report. Fitzpatrick, past president of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, testified last week that Sherman failed to pursue information that might have supported his client and that Shermanmade mistakes that helped the state.

Fitzpatrick said Morall's report would have bolstered Sherman's defense at trial that Littleton, not Skakel, was Moxley's killer. The report outlines Littleton's struggles with mental illness and drugs and alcohol, his criminal trial on theft charges, overwhelming sexual feelings, and violence against women. At one point, he sought treatment at a Massachusetts mental health facility and was prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, the report says. Fitzpatrick said the image belied one he believed jurors saw of Littleton at trial as an educator and a counselor.

"The Kenneth Littleton the jury saw is not the Kenneth Littleton reflected in this document," Fitzpatrick said. "Not even a mere shadow."

Littleton told Morall, according to the report, of how he preferred a "blond, blue-eyed, all-American beauty" over a "cute" girl or ones resembling the actress Sophia Loren.

"That would be Martha Moxley," Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said a "reasonably competent" defense attorney would have worked to get the report admitted as evidence or would have tried to put Morall on the witness stand.

But when recalled to the witness stand Tuesday by the state, Sherman said that at trial he offered testimony that pointed the finger at Littleton as Moxley's killer, though the trial judge questioned the relevance of Littleton's psychiatric history and restricted testimony on it.

When asked Tuesday by Fairfield County Supervisory Assistant State's Attorney Susann E. Gill if there was anything in the newly disclosed report that he "wished" he had at trial, Sherman replied, "Frankly, no."

Sherman said he was aware at the time of trial of Morall's 1993 exam of Littleton but did not call Morall as a witness. Jurors did see videotape excerpts of Morall interviewing Littleton.

"I just didn't think she was an effective interrogator," Sherman said.

In the latest hearing, Littleton was not called to the witness stand, though he did testify at Skakel's widely publicized trial.

Littleton's lawyer, Eugene J. Riccio, insisted Tuesday that Littleton had nothing to do with the murder of Moxley.

"There has never been and never will be a credible shred of evidence that he was involved," Riccio said in a telephone interview. "It's been a very torturous and tragic road in many ways for Mr. Littleton for many years. It essentially destroyed his life and caused him significant damage."

Riccio declined to elaborate and would not confirm where Littleton currently resides.

Littleton's name has surfaced several times at the latest hearing, including during testimony about a police sketch of a man walking in the area of Moxley's home the night she was killed. Santos says the composite drawing should have been used at trial as exculpatory evidence by Sherman.

When shown the sketch at the hearing, Sherman said it looked like "Kenneth Littleton or someone else." Sherman said having the sketch at trial "would have been helpful."